Tag Archives: John Ladenburg

On Monday, when the Washington State Supreme Court
convenes for the first time this year, history will be made: a
majority of the court is made up of women, including the chief
justice, for the first time ever.

And it will be Bainbridge resident and longtime appellate lawyer
Sheryl Gordon McCloud who tipped the scales. McCloud, who
upset a competitive field last fall that included longtime
King County Superior Court judge Bruce Hilyer, former state
Supreme Court judge Richard Sanders, and former Pierce
County prosecutor and county executive John Ladenburg, joins four
other justices to put females in the majority on the court, the
Washington Courts Web site
pointed out Thursday.

The public is invited to the opening of the court’s 2013
session, at 9:30 a.m. Monday in the Temple of Justice in
Olympia.

Here’s more from the courts’ release:

The ceremony will also mark the inaugurations of Justice Susan
J. Owens and Justice Steven González, who were both elected to
six-year terms, and Chief Justice Barbara Madsen, who was
re-elected by her colleagues to a four-year term as Chief
Justice.

The event is open to the public and will be held in the
Supreme Court at the Temple of Justice in Olympia.

Sheryl Gordon McCloud graduated from the State University of New
York at Buffalo in 1976, and graduated from the University of
Southern California Gould School of Law in 1984. She clerked for
Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Warren Ferguson before
beginning her practice, which included extensive experience in
appellate law. In 2008, the Washington Association of Criminal
Defense Lawyers awarded her their highest award, the William O.
Douglas Award, for “extraordinary courage” in the practice of
law.

Steven González is the first justice of Mexican heritage to
serve on the bench of the Washington State Supreme Court since the
formation of the Court in 1889. González was appointed to the Court
in 2012, and served on the King County Superior Court bench
from 2002-2012. González earned his J.D. from the
University of California at Berkley’s law school and was admitted
to the Washington state bar in 1991. He graduated from Pitzer
College, a member of the Claremont Colleges, with a B.A. in East
Asian Studies and studied abroad in undergraduate and advanced
studies in Japan and China. From 1997 to 2002, González was
an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the state’s Western District. He also
worked in the City of Seattle Attorney’s Office from 1996 to 1997
as a trial attorney in the domestic violence unit. Before that, he
practiced business and civil law with the firm Hillis Clark Martin
and Peterson from 1991 to 1996.

Susan J. Owens was first elected in 2000 to the Supreme
Court. She joined the court after serving nineteen years as
District Court Judge in Western Clallam County, where she was the
County’s senior elected official with five terms. She also served
as the Quileute Tribe’s Chief Judge and Chief Judge of the Lower
Elwha S’Klallam Tribe.

Chief Justice Barbara Madsen was elected to serve a second term
as the 55th Chief Justice of the Washington State Supreme Court in
October. As Chief Justice, she is the court’s chief spokesperson,
presides over Supreme Court hearings and conferences, and co-chairs
the state’s Board for Judicial Administration. The voters elected
Justice Madsen as the third woman to serve on the Washington
Supreme Court in 1992, and she was re-elected in 1998, 2004, and
2010.